Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff Win First
On February 22, 1989, the Grammys finally recognized rap as a genre when Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince won the first-ever Grammy.
Most Grammys won by a rapper
Jay-Z and Kanye West, each with 24 awards, have won more Grammy Awards than any other rapper. Lauryn Hill is the most awarded female rapper, with eight Grammy Awards.
Next is Dr. Dre who has seven Grammy Award wins to his name including in 1994 for Best Rap Solo Performance for his hit song Let Me Ride. In 2001, he won Best Rap Album as engineer of The Marshall Mathers LP and for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Forgot About Dre featuring Eminem.
Queen Latifah & Salt-N-Pepa were the first female rappers to ... On the night of March 1 1995 at the 37th Grammy Awards Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa won an award in the same category which made them the first female rappers to win a Grammy.
2 … Hard Knock Life for 1998. Currently tied with Kanye West, Jay Z holds the distinction of rapper with the most GRAMMY wins in history. He made his GRAMMY performance debut at the 48th GRAMMY Awards in 2006 when he teamed with Linkin Park and Paul McCartney for a medley of "Numb/Encore" and "Yesterday."
Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998, while other women have come close.
Music producer David Frost has won 21 Grammys, seven of which were classical producer of the year titles. In 2023, Frost bested four other musicians tied at 20 awards and became the artist with the 14th-most wins thanks to his single award lead.
Beyoncé is the most Grammy Award winning artist of all times with 32 trophies to her name. Second came Sir Georg Solti, an orchestral and operatic conductor, i with a total of 31 Grammy Awards won for recordings of works as diverse as Bach, Bartók, and Wagner.
Jay-Z is the richest rapper in the world, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires list. As of June 2023, Jay-Z's net worth is estimated at $2.5 billion.
March 23, 2003
Eminem's “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile becomes first rap song to win an Oscar for best original song. Eminem co-wrote the anthemic hit with Jeff Bass and Luis Resto.
Coke La Rock (aka Coco La Rock; born April 24, 1955) is an old-school rapper from New York City who is sometimes credited as being the first MC in the history of hip-hop.
The major pioneers of rapping were Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and the Cold Crush Brothers, whose Grandmaster Caz is controversially considered by some to be the true author of some of the strongest lyrics in “Rapper's Delight.” These early MCs and deejays constituted rap's old school.
Michael Jackson won 13 Grammy Awards, including 8 for the album Thriller. Jackson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice: in 1997 as a member of the Jackson 5 and in 2001 for his solo career. Jackson also helped open the doors for Black artists on the radio and on television (particularly MTV).
With a total of 32 awards and 88 nominations from the Grammy Awards for her music (including her work in Destiny's Child and The Carters), she is the most-awarded and most nominated (tied alongside her husband Jay-Z) artist in Grammy history.
Eilish is the recipient of numerous awards, including seven Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award, two Guinness World Records, one Brit Award, and three Billboard Music Awards.
Taylor Swift is certainly no stranger to The Recording Academy. Over the span of her successful career, the singer has managed to rack up 46 Grammy nominations and 12 wins.
While no dollars are exchanged when an artist wins a Grammy, receiving the award can provide musicians with a “Grammy bounce.” Let's take a look. Can win a Grammy help artists expand their audience reach?
Rap began in 1971, in the Bronx, with Kool Herc, who was from Jamaica. At block parties, Kool Herc would play two turntables by hand and manipulate the sound to create an entirely new sound, while he rapped the lyrics from the song he was playing.
Sharon Green (born 1962), also known as MC Sha-Rock, is considered the "first female rapper" or emcee. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, she grew up in the South Bronx, New York City during the earliest years of hip hop culture.
Topping the list with a net worth of $150 million, Nicki Minaj has dominated the rap scene since her debut in 2009. With multiple chart-topping hits, numerous awards, and a devoted fan base, she has solidified her status as the current queen of female rap and why she tops the list of the richest female rappers.